For all those interested in more trivia about the fic, another Bedheads post will be coming on tumblr soon :D
Exam is over, I did 18/20, we will see how many of those 18 are correct, though xD Next test is next weekend. Time to stress some more and type xD

Chapter 18: Good things

His hands were actually touching that hair. It was loose and curly, just the way he loved it best. It felt like heaven under his fingers. Soft, tangling around his hands. It smelled so strongly of coconuts, coffee and something citrusy. It was positively intoxicating. Every so often, his hands would glide over a quite defined curls which flowed like water over the pads of his fingers. He was on cloud nine.

"Kuroo," Haru turned her head, giving him a tentative look. "Stop messing up my hair." He chuckled and pulled the curls to the side, leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss to the nape of her neck, right above the red strings of the sinful dress she was wearing.

"Sorry," he didn't even mean it. He'd waited so long to able to touch that hair that he didn't even care if he was messing it up and getting it all tangled up. His fingers were trembling when he reached for the straps of the dress, gently pulling them down her smooth shoulders. She had such soft skin. It was like hot chocolate mixed with milk, yet plush to the touch and so warm. She exhaled and he felt it due to their bodies being pressed together. The dress slid down her form, his hands following its path with faint touches. She stepped out of it and turned, finally facing him.

Kuroo took a shaky breath. Haru had red lingerie on, almost glowing on her form due to the color contrast. With the messy hair and the wide chocolate eyes she definitely looked like some exotic Goddess. Cursing himself for thinking like Yamamoto, Kuroo tried to figure out where to put his hands first. But, the girl solved that dilemma for him.

"Touch me," she sighed in a low tone and took his hands with her cooler ones, briefly intertwining their fingers before she left him holding her waist. He gently kneaded the soft flesh there, delighting in the way she sighed at the action. "Kuroo," that got him to look at her eyes again. She seemed impatient. "Kiss me already."

He didn't need to be told twice. Kuroo leaned down, accommodating for her shorter stature, her lips rising to meet his halfway. The kiss was painstakingly slow, gentle and made him groan into her mouth as she led it and he let her. Her short nails scraped the back of his neck, pulling on his hair and wandering down to his shoulders, before going back up. His mind was in a frenzy and he felt too hot. Everything was too hot.

"Kuroo," she whispered against his lips when they separated, feeling the words more than hearing them. Her soft curves felt so good pressed against his toned body. "I need you." He unraveled at her words, going to kiss her again, this time in a different way, more demanding, more aggressively.

His alarm was ringing. Kuroo opened his eyes, then closed them again. He was alone, in his bed, at home. The boy groaned and sat up, immediately noticing the effect his rather inappropriate dream had had on him.

"Fuck." There was nothing else to say but that. Kuroo sat for a moment, hands on his face, trying to calm his breathing down. It had all felt too real. It had all smelled to real. She had been so real in his arms. He was in big trouble, Kuroo decided with a groan. He tossed his covers away and took his phone with him, checking the time as he walked towards the bathroom. Waiting or fixing it, he mused, finally deciding on the latter. With the early hour on a Sunday, his mother wouldn't be up for a few more hours. He had time to both deal with his obvious problem and get the breakfast done.

The bathroom door closed behind him and Kuroo locked it, sliding down against it to the single round carpet they had put in about two years ago to collect the water from the shower. His hand went into his underwear, ready to go back to his dream in his head and continue it through his personal fantasies. Then, his phone rang. Kuroo grabbed it with the free hand, answering without looking at the ID.

"Kuroo, I need you." The third-year balked. It was Haru's voice. Haru's voice sounding strangely strained.

"Errr what?" Really intelligent, Kuroo, the boy thought to himself.

"This lady gave me some stuff for my hair at the salon and I think I messed it up," Haru kept talking, not realizing what her voice was doing to him. "Kenma told me the other day that you know how to use those things and Akari is busy today. Please, help me." Kuroo looked at his hand in his boxers before sighing and taking it out. Ignore until it goes away, it is.

"Can you come over?" He asked the girl, getting up with a low groan and heading for the sink.

"Sure, if you're close to Kenma's I can be there in a few minutes." She sounded happy now.

"Yeah, just three houses up," Kuroo told her and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He was a mess. "I'll text you the address."

"See you soon," and the line cut off. The third-year boy leaned on the sink, sighing.

"You're gonna be the death of me, Chiharu." He told his reflection, which seemed positively exhausted and tortured.

Kuroo managed to kick himself into operational mode rather quickly texting the girl his address, washing his hands, face and brushing his teeth. He contemplated getting dressed, but decided against it. It was his house and she had called him that early in the morning. She could deal with the consequences of seeing him in his sleeping clothes. At least he wore boxers and a T-shirt to bed during summer, unlike Kenma who preferred to sleep in the nude, which Kuroo had unfortunately discovered one morning.

The doorbell rang just as he was going downstairs to get some coffee, at least, and he changed directions. Thankfully, his hormones had decided to take a chill pill meantime. Haru stood on his porch looking rather nervous, in a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt. Her hair was down, but in a braid down her back. She had a bag in her hands.

"Oh, crap, did I wake you up?" The girl asked, looking at his state of dress and hair. He could swear that she had a blush on her face.

"Nah, I was already up," Kuroo motioned for her to enter and she did. She toed off her sneakers and followed him into his kitchen where he got them both a cup of coffee. "Sugar and milk?"

"Both, thanks." Haru looked a little on the awkward side, standing there, waiting for him to finish. Kuroo grabbed their two mugs and nodded for her to follow him.

"What were you having issues with?" He asked as they entered his room, noticing how she took a second to look around. Kuroo immediately cursed himself for not cleaning up more. There were books and papers around his desk, his volleyball stuff just tossed in a corner, a few magazines on the floor and his bed was still a mess from sleeping.

"Well, I got everything that she told me to get," Haru walked over to the bed, putting her bag on it and opening it. Multiple bottles came out and Kuroo walked over to inspect each of them. He did his best to ignore the fact that Haru was standing centimeters from his unmade bed. "Her instructions were clear, but it didn't really work. Look." Then, the girl undid her braid and he instantly saw the problem. The curls were more defined, but they lay flat on her head, like they had been oiled down with something.

"Let me see that paper," Kuroo extended his hand for the instructions and when her fingers brushed his as she gave it, he briefly saw that back in the red dress, his hands going down her smooth shoulders as he stripped her. He forced himself to read the instructions on the paper. "Oh, you're supposed to do this first," he showed her the line which she should substitute for another. "Then this. And also add a moisturizer. Do you have one?" He went to his desk to make a note on the instructions.

"What is that?" Haru asked, looking through the bottles. "Is that one of these?" Kuroo gave a small chuckle, walking over and checking out the products she had again. There wasn't a moisturizer there.

"Nope," He straightened then looked at the obviously miserable girl. "I have one, if you don't mind smelling like a total guy?"

"Not at all," Haru giggled. "Besides, you always smell nice." Kuroo blushed, looking away.

"Alright," he banished the thoughts which were wandering back to his dream. "Take off your clothes, let's do this."

"W-what?" the girl asked, blushing and looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Well, unless you're going to shower with your clothes on?" He smirked, deciding to not let the opportunity pass. "I can help you with stripping, of course."

"Sure, would you like to take off my shirt of my shorts?" Kuroo chocked seemingly on nothing, coughing and blushing, looking at the girl incredulously. She was smirking at him. Well, that was a different change of pace in their usual banter. It was typically him teasing her and her retorting with yelling or smacking, sometimes even ignoring. This, however, was her teasing back. Kuroo liked it more than he should've.

"You can wash your hair at the sink if you flip it over your head and we pull the showerhead from the bath, c'mon." He led her into the bathroom, taking the bottles he needed for the wet stage with him. Haru followed with a cocky smirk he planned to wipe off her smug face.

"Tetsurō, are you up already?" His mom didn't knock when she entered his room, stopping short at the door, shocked still. The two teens turned awkwardly to her, both wide-eyed and blushing. Kuroo knew how it looked. He'd had Haru sit on the floor in front of him, in between his legs, while he was on the bed, still in his sleepwear. It was the easiest way to access her hair comfortably, his fingers tangled in it with product on them, massaging it into her scalp. What he hadn't considered was the fact that the girl was turned towards him, making the whole thing look rather intimate. "Oh." The woman slowly stepped back, closing the door and leaving.

"Oh, God." Kuroo groaned, making Haru raise her head to look up at him.

"Are you going to get in trouble?" She giggled.

"No, but I'll never hear the end of this one." He kept working the product into her hair before taking one of the clean cotton shirts he'd prepared, scrunching up her hair bottom to root. "She is rather adamant about me bringing a girlfriend home sometime soon. She won't get off my case about you for at least a month." Haru couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"I think my mom would go insane if I brought a boy home while she is there," the girl told him. "She's always saying how I'm not dating and that's bad for me. She keeps telling me how many boyfriends she had and what she was already doing at my age."

"Oh, God," Kuroo groaned. "Someone save us, really." Haru nodded. After a few moments, he gathered enough courage to ask. "So, you're not opposed to dating?" The girl gave him an undefinable look, but answered rather honestly in his opinion.

"Well, not really," she slowly spoke as he switched up the work he was doing on her hair again. "I mean, I've never dated anyone before." Kuroo couldn't stop himself from faltering in his movements, which Haru noticed. "I know, it's weird. But, I was never confident enough I think. After I went into puberty, I got asked out a few times as a joke or purely for… you know…"

"Ah, I get it," Kuroo nodded. "That must be crippling." He mused, then quickly elaborated. "I mean, if I was a girl and that happened to me, I'd probably end up doubting every single guy who flirted with me." He noticed the girl go quiet and then decided to continue talking, attempting to make her at least a bit more comfortable. "I've been asked out a few times and I dated once, in my first year at Nekoma."

"Really?" Haru was talking again, which was a good sign. "I would've thought you had had more relationships?" Kuroo laughed.

"It's the popular opinion," he shrugged. "I guess I just give off some Casanova vibe I can't really help it." Haru laughed, smacking his knee gently.

"Way to be humble."

"Hey, just being honest," Kuroo told her with a chuckle. "But, it's hard to fit a relationship into my schedule. Between volleyball, school and I used to work part-time in a café in my first two years at high school, there really was no time. That's why that relationship I told you about got messy. We were both kind of busy and drifted away." He knew that he needed to stop talking about his ex, but the way Haru was looking at him, like she was drinking in every single word, made him continue. "Just didn't work out."

"Maybe it wasn't meant to be?" she asked in a small voice. "Like, I look at my parents sometimes. They've been married for nearly twenty years, both working out of the country and they somehow make it work. I think… If it's meant to be it's worth working for it." Kuroo wondered if she was hinting at working at a potential relationship with him even if he wasn't in Nekoma anymore the following year. He wanted that to be the case, but with Haru, he wasn't sure of anything. She was the unknown. The mystery. The absolute mindboggling enigma that he couldn't help but be enticed by.

"Yeah…" He mumbled.

"Haru-chan, is it?" Kuroo's mom seemed rather nice in Haru's opinion. She was a tall woman, just a tad shorter than her son, with long black hair and those same amber eyes that Kuroo had. She always had a knowing smirk on her lips, as well, reminding the girl of the third-year. "You must stay for breakfast, please."

"It's nice to meet you," Haru bowed, blushing as she could only guess what the woman thought of her, due to the scene she'd witnessed that very same morning. "Thank you for having me, Kuroo-san." Kuroo guffawed behind her.

"Oh, no need to be so formal, Haru-chan," the woman gave her son a stern look, which instantly made him stop laughing. "I'd love it if you called me Kaa-san or Junko, but if you must address me by my last name, it's Yoshihara."

"O-oh," Haru was blushing profusely. "I'm sorry for assuming." She bowed again, her hair falling to hide her red face. Kuroo seemed on the verge of laughing again, but managed to hold it in because of his mother's glare.

"I'm surprised Tetsurō didn't tell you," Junko said, continuing to set up the table. "His father and I have been divorced for a while now."

"Mom, there's really no need-"

"No, sempai," Haru looked at him smugly, shutting him up successfully. "I'd like to hear the whole story, if it's not too much prying, Junko-san?" Oh, he looked ticked off. It made her even more smug, despite the sheer ridiculousness of the circumstances.

"Oh, well, it was what?" Junko stopped to think for a moment. "I believe ten years ago? We divorced after living apart for a long time. I came to Tokyo because of Tetsurō, you see. His father insisted that they had to move here, and then picked up and followed his work after only three years." Kuroo gave her a look which plainly said 'look what you've done now'. Haru shrugged, telling him that she wanted to know. He shook his head, but placed their coffee mugs on the table and went to help with getting the breakfast ready. Haru choose to give Junko a hand, who was still talking. "It was silly, of course. Moving the boy just after he'd made friends here. I transferred to Tokyo and bought a house nearby so that Tetsurō could stay within his circle of friends. I got custody the following year and it's been perfect ever since!"

"Mom, I think that's-"

"So, what's your family like, Haru-chan?" This time it was his mother who cut him off and Kuroo wondered why in the world he had told the girl to come to his place. It would've been so much less trouble for everyone if he had just gone to hers.

"I technically live with my parents and sister," Haru began talking, also ignoring him, so he focused on his breakfast. Perhaps, some good could come out of this if he got to learn more about the girl in the process. "But, my sister is in college and she works as a model, so she isn't home often. My bother has his own place and my parents travel a lot on business. Most of the time the house is empty and it's just me."

"Oh, poor thing," Kuroo's mother extended her hand, comfortingly putting it over Haru's. "You can come over whenever you want, right Tetsurō?"

"Right." Kuroo agreed through the eggs and rice, smirking at Haru. He would love to see her wiggle out of that one. Though, when he looked at the girl, he saw her eyes misty and with a quick nod, she thanked his mother. Perhaps, this had been more than just gang-up-on-Tetsurō fest. Perhaps, it was a good thing.

"Harucchi!" Akari waved getting the girl's attention. "And, Kuroo-sempai?" Kuroo walked behind Haru, his tall frame hard to miss. He raised a hand in greeting.

"Yo!"

"You came to watch, too?" Akari asked, turning to Haru with a questioning look.

"I invited him," she looked at Kuroo slyly. "You don't mind coming to support Ikki with us, do you Tetsurō-kun?" A brief look of annoyance flashed across the third-year's face, followed by a teasing smirk.

"Not at all, Haru-chan," he retorted, making Akari sigh silently. They were back at it. "We should get some snacks so we can share, don't you think? I'd love for you to feed me again."

"Why of course, Tetsurō-kun." But, something was different. Akari followed the two as they bantered in a flirting manner. It was different from before. Haru was pushing back, this time not with embarrassment or anger, but with flirtation. It was very different.

"Oh, get married already, crazy bedheads." Akari mumbled to herself.

Ikki hadn't lied about being a starter. He was one of the only second-years who played in the first line-up, as a point guard. He did a brilliant job of controlling the game, signaling his team and directing them to be where they needed to in order to receive passes fluidly. The two girls would jump and cheer at all of his good plays and sigh or groan when the other team outplayed them. Kuroo seemed borderline bored, but got into the game during the second half. He started cheering with them, as well. But, what Akari noticed he did the most was pull Haru to himself and whisper something into her ear which she nodded to.

"Are you two really flirting mid-game?" Akari pulled Haru to her to whisper into her ear over the yelling of the crowd. The girl blushed, but replied in a similar manner.

"Kuroo noticed something about the way the basketball players used their steps to get to places quicker," she told her friend. "Also, about their jumps. We're going to try and use it in our practice." Akari sighed, shaking her head.

"Do you two volleyball freaks ever stop working?" She spoke loud enough for the both of them to hear, to which they only grinned to each other at and shook their heads.

In the end, Ikki's team won with a score of 85-72. It had been a close game the whole time, but they had managed to widen the gap at the very end, a third-year scoring quite a few points from the outside, shooting threes. The girls cheered, pushing through the leaving crowd as they gushed about the match, heading for the Nekoma changing room. Kuroo followed them, piping up every once in a while to add a comment.

"Ikki!" The boys in the changing room were in various state of undress when they burst in, trying to cover up quickly. But, the girls didn't pay them any mind, going for their friend to give him a hug, despite the sweat. "Congratulations! You were great!" The three friends jumped around in a weird three-way hug.

"I'm sorry about them," Kuroo bowed slightly to the captain, another third-year whom he knew in passing.

"Ah, we're used to them at this point." The boy replied, waving the apology off with a smile.

Monday came all too quickly for Haru. She was still tired from the rollercoaster which had been the previous day. After messing up her hair, begging Kuroo to help her, meeting his mother and then Ikki winning the game and taking them with the whole team out for food, she was exhausted. Her morning routine was quick and she seemed to be in school all too quickly, without seeing Kenma or Kuroo on the train. The practice went smoothly, the captain instructing the team to pick up the basketball moves he had seen during the game. He had also, together with Haru, talked to Fukunaga about aiming his spikes for the back of the court. During the practice a lot of them ended up being an out, but the second-year was getting better and better as the training continued.

It was during her second class that Haru saw something that completely recharged her energy. She spotted one of the girls in her class with a popular magazine that covered beauty routine topics. But, what caught Haru's attention was the photo on the cover. It was the picture she had taken of Nana, jumping to do a beautiful arabesque in the middle of the busy street, headlights illuminating her form and long hair.

"Sorry, can I look at that for a second?" She asked the girl who wasn't reading the magazine, but talking to her friends.

"Oh, sure." And Haru accepted the paper, looking at the title.

Taniyama Nana gives us an insight into her beauty routine!

Haru flipped the pages to the article, her eyes widening. All the photos which had been used on those pages were from their studio. There was a shot she'd taken of Nana outside, evening light illuminating her from behind as she leaned on a bench at the park, smiling softly. Another one was a picture Satoshi had been in charge of, showing the dancer in her training clothes, stretching. The final one was of the girl in a white blouse, holding a candle that seemed to make her look somehow ethereal. They were all Haru's or Satoshi's photos. The girl looked at the fine print at the bottom, showing the name of their studio as the artist of the images. Her heart soared as she gave back the magazine, all of those hours of tedious work paying off in a single edition.

"Did you see?" Akari asked her excitedly during their last period, showing her the cover of the magazine on her phone. "I was just browsing and I saw it! I knew it was one of yours immediately!"

"I saw it earlier!" Haru couldn't stifle her excitement, the two girls hugging. "Can you believe it, the cover?!" Akari began jumping, hugging the girl, then clutching her phone, then hugging the girl again.

"Oh, this is great, Haru!"

"What is?" Ikki joined them at their table and Akari quickly gushed to tell him about Haru's new success. All the girl could do was grin stupidly, which wouldn't seem to go away no matter how much she tried. Finally, her work had paid off. Maybe, just maybe, she would be noticed for her shots. Maybe, she could build her career. Maybe, she could do what she wanted for once in her life.

Oooh, gosh, this was such a KurooxHaru centered chapter… I hope yall enjoyed it! Developments developments!

Reviews:

KirikaAndo:
thanks for the review!
To be honest, writing keeps me from panicking about my exams a lot, which helps tonsss xD Though, some of the chapters are typed in a rush, but I hope they don't feel too fast-paced xD I need a breakkkkk from everything xD
Glad that you had fun with the chapter! They were all totally wearing Nekoma colors xD Like, Haru was color-coordinating, even though Nana and Akari picked the dress.
Soon, there will be more developments and fun :P
Cheers!

Milo21:
Welcome back! Glad to see that you're still reading and having fun with this story :D
thanks so much! I do my best to keep my writing readable and coherent, despite my messy ideas xD Glad that it comes out well :)
I'm not sure how I did on the exam yet, should know sometimes in the next two weeks xD
Cheers!

Rosto'sGirl:
On one hand, it's good, to be honest. Like, you know what you like to read about and it gives you an idea as to what will happen in the future. However, it's bad cause – spoilers, as River Song would put it xD
I ship IwaOi too much. Like, I'm super going down with that ship it's soooo bad xD
I must admit that I'm not a big fan of Asahi and Noya as a ship, but I do appreciate them individually! I can see where the ship comes from, though xD
Kuroo? He more like needs a shove. Kick in the back. Someone to push his and Haru's faces together and yell 'just kiss!' xD
Hope you enjoyed more Kuroo torturing xD

Valen Goncalvez:
hahahaha omg your review made me crack up so bad xD Yes, that's exactly how it went xD Restart totally failed xD Poor Kuroo…

Omake:

Something's different.

Kenma frowned at the text he received, re-reading it a few times before he decided to just honestly express his confusion. It seemed to work best with the girl in question.

About?

He waited for the reply, re-checking his phone multiple times. He was sitting at home, in front of his TV, a controller in his lap. He didn't return to the game for a while, waiting for the message. Then, he pushed his hair back, remembering how her hands had felt when she had pulled it back into a half-ponytail. It had been nice. Rather nice.

Kuroo-sempai and Haru, something's different.

Kenma mused, looking at the letters. Different, eh? Something was different. What had happened? His mind went over the past few days, circling around the events and what the two in question had done. What had triggered it? How was it different?

How so?

He texted. Just as he was about to give up on waiting for the reply and pick up his game again, his phone dinged.

She's flirting back!

Kenma's eyes widened. He stared at the text incredulously, then shook his head and quickly replied.

We should talk. When do you have time?

Akari's reply was quick for the first time that day.

Sure, I can come over after the game?

Game?

Ikki's playing his Inter-High today, basketball.

Sure, I'll be home.

See you then!

Kenma tossed his phone to the side, picking up the controller once more. He resumed the game and continued executing perfect after perfect strategy. His mind, though, as his fingers simply went through the motions, was going in circles. He paused the game again, pulling his hair into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, then, he kept playing.

Hope you enjoyed!